The eCommerce landscape is continuously evolving. New forms of marketing tactics that can help businesses flourish in the ever-changing environment appear regularly. Utilizing these novel patterns will provide you with a competitive edge over other brands in your industry.
Put simply, if you want to run a successful online business, you need to create a marketing plan. There are a wide variety of traditional and innovative marketing techniques available today. This blog will help you find the perfect marketing solution for the eCommerce platform of your choice.
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Unique eCommerce Marketing Techniques
In 2021, eCommerce retail sales worldwide accounted for approximately $4.9 trillion. That figure is projected to rise by 50% throughout the next four years to about $7.4 trillion by 2025.
Source: Statista
These numbers wouldn’t be that huge if it wasn’t for marketing. A brand is more than just a product. To succeed online, sellers create marketing strategies specific to their businesses. But defining the unique business challenge makes it all the more difficult to identify the right marketing techniques.
There are many different eCommerce strategies that companies can use to improve the sales of their retail site. Among these strategies are one-of-a-kind techniques in customer engagement, SEO, product reviews, social media strategy, and more. These unique strategies may be the difference-maker that you need to grow your eCommerce business.
Yet, despite a plethora of advertising options, ad spending is growing year over year.
So, how can you spend your ad budget more efficiently? Is there any uniqueness left in the world of marketing?
Here are some exceptional marketing ideas to help your eCommerce company push sales.
Acquiring Customers Through New Marketing Channels
Most marketing journeys begin with an understanding of the customer base and using that information to guide the variety of ad channels used to reach them. If you’re struggling with attracting customers with your existing channels of communication with them, you should consider finding new ways to reach them. It is paramount when you no longer have the advantage of competitors being in the same field as you.
More companies are beginning to realize they can no longer rely on one channel to sell goods and services. Today’s businesses must get smarter about acquiring customers, rather than relying on the traditional way of marketing to customers. It’s simple economics: the more customers you have, the more money you make. That is why the cross-channel approach becomes more and more popular.
Leverage User-Generated Content
The last few years have seen the emergence and explosion of user-generated content. It’s becoming an essential part of businesses that rely on social media, search engines, and review sites. But how can companies tap into this content and make it work for them?
People share their thoughts and ideas, assist with solving problems and answer others’ questions. User-generated content, such as reviews and Q&A posts, can be a powerful marketing tool. And businesses with small budgets can use this content to get more foot traffic from their clients without spending a cent. The creative minds behind some of the most iconic brands are leveraging the power of user-generated content to create something innovative and engaging.
Utilizing UGC is a great way to tap into what your audience is thinking and feeling and convey that to your potential customers.
Cross-Feature Your Products on Partners’ Websites
If you’re a brand partner of a like-minded eCommerce site, you can collaborate with their marketing team to cross-feature your products on that site. Sometimes, showing how a partner’s product is similar to or suitable for your own product can help increase conversions.
With the increased visibility of websites created along with eCommerce activity, marketers have an opportunity to cross-promote their products on these partner websites. This can help you stand out in a crowded space, support your branding efforts, and provide the benefits of an advertising campaign for both you and your partners.
Enable Guest Checkout on Your Website
If by default all of your online customers will have to register and create an account with the site in order to check out that can be a barrier to buying, and it can mean you lose out on potential sales.
Take a look at the example above which is the way ASOS allows purchasing completion. In fact, many of the most popular eCommerce sites now enable guest checkout. It solves the hassle of having to log in with your email address and password, and it’s an easy way to reduce cart abandonment.
You can also start selling products with guest checkout powered by a social media login widget. Collect your customers’ email addresses and use builds to re-engage your community.
Offer Gated Content to Drive More Sales
All content has a purpose, whether it’s to be shared with the world or your team internally. Gated content is usually created to drive more sales, generate leads, and help clients understand your value proposition. A prime example would be something like a video tutorial series. You can also offer gated content in the form of a quiz, detailed guides, or downloadable resources such as white papers or e-books.
You can then ask your users to share your content on their own social networks. Remember to only show content customers want to see and that will be useful for them. Also, make it as easy as possible for them to download it from your website.
Collaborate with a Like-Minded Brand
We’re seeing more and more companies realize they can’t do everything on their own, so they’re stepping out of their silos and into partnerships. But understanding why these partnerships arise is important because it helps determine which models make the most sense for your company.
Whether you sell eco-friendly products or dog toys, you might want to find some like-minded brands to collaborate with and create types of joint collections. That is especially helpful for your ad campaigns: for content marketers, a collaborative collection with a like-minded brand is an opportunity to reach new audiences.
Invest in Your Own Branded Packaging
Branding is about showing the world you have the confidence and knowledge to take that lead. When you see your company’s logo anywhere, it feels like it’s an accomplishment for a company to be recognized. An investment in functional packaging can have a significant impact on your bottom line. If you want your product to stand out, if you want people to be intrigued by your packaging, you need to put the effort into branding yourself.
The label on the product is the first thing the consumer detects, so take the time to ensure you have the right branding and design. It can help you attract customers and stand out from your competitors. Invest in your own branded packaging to create a brand story and make the most of your marketing.
Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment via Emails
Eighty-three percent of shoppers are ready to share their data to enable a personalized experience if businesses are transparent about how they intend to use it and that shoppers have control over it. And research reveals that abandoned cart emails actually have a significant effect. The Experian Cross-Channel Marketing report stated that customers who received several emails about abandoned baskets were 2.4 times more likely to finish the order than those who received only one.
Source: Databox
Shopping cart abandonment is a problem that costs retailers $4.6 trillion in losses yearly.
Shopping cart abandonment has a huge influence on your CAC, as it implies you lost a client during the order process. Transparent pricing, high-powered customer service, and deep discounts are not enough to compensate for the issue of shopping cart abandonment.
However, you can recover some of the lost income by automating abandoned baskets sequences. This means you should track the timeline of abandoned carts and send emails to customers to encourage them to finish the purchase.
Make Use of Personalization to Drive Sales
A successful online business is one that has done a great job of making personalization part of its business model. Personalization is the process of tailoring your online marketing messages to specific individuals. This process becomes achievable when an online business starts to collect data.
Source: Drift
A customer will head to one of your competitors if they don’t feel a connection with what you have to offer. In order to keep customers loyal, you need to make sure your copy is relevant and appealing to them. If you have all the necessary data, you can personalize the entire user experience and drive more organic traffic to your website.
Personalization opens the door to new opportunities that are fueled by your audience’s needs, preferences, and interests.
Final Word
eCommerce is not easy, especially when you’re new to it. Marketing is all about attention from prospects, building brand loyalty, and reaching new audiences. There are increasingly creative approaches that can have an impact on your marketing success.
About the Author
Dari Bilera is the Head of Marketing at Profit Whales, a full-service marketing agency for e-commerce brands that scales them on Amazon and beyond via a cross-channel approach.
With over four years of experience in various areas of marketing, from PR to SMM, email marketing and content marketing, Dari has spent her career establishing comprehensive B2C and B2B marketing strategies and managing marketing teams to increase businesses visibility and profitability.
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